SOCRATIC DISCUSSION:

DEVELOPING LISTENING, SPEAKING AND APPRECIATION

My Connection

I first learned of ‘Socratic Discussion’ when attending a summer school program in Canberra during the 1991/92 school holiday period. I enrolled in the workshop out of curiosity.

The deeper into the workshop participants were immersed, the more convinced I became that this discourse methodology was one that would work well in classroom contexts. It had worried me for a long time that children tended to be ‘all mouth and no ears’ when it came to speaking and listening. If someone was speaking, listeners listened only for a brief pause. That pause was licence to verbally jump into the space, whether the speaker had finished or was merely pausing for breath.

Children, along with adult models, tended to criticise peers for holding viewpoints, rather than appreciating speakers for putting forward particular views on subjects. Socratic Discussion offered an alternative, whereby students could be trained or developed as respectful participants, appreciating peers and considering points of view offered in discussion.

How the Socratic Approach helps Children

I believe Socratic Discussion is of benefit to children for the following reasons:

* It dissuades from the old fashioned ideal that ‘children should be seen and not heard’ but in a way that encourages structured rather than an unthinking and garrulous approach to conversation.

* It helps persuade children that ‘all mouth and no ears’ (over-talking and under-listening) need not be a perception held of them as individuals.

* It is a process that balances the skills of speaking and listening in a positive educational manner.

* It is also a process upholding the rights of children to hold and express opinions; it reinforces the value of youthful points of view.

* It highlights the honesty and impediment free factors generally inherent in the speech of young people.

* The value of student voice is reinforced, with children who participate appreciating that worth and value are placed on what they and their peers say.

To be continued